Banjo attachment



H. W. WEYMANN.

BANJO ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED JUL 25. 1916.

1,312,882. Patented Aug. 12, 1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT orrion.

HARRY W. WEYMANN, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSLYVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 II. A. WEYMANN AND SON, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

BANJO ATTACHMENT.

Application filed January 25, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY W. W YMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Banjo Attachments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in banjo attachments, and has for its object to provide an exceedingly simple and effective device of this character which may be used upon musical instruments especially those as the banjo or banjomandolin, whereby the musical tones emanating from the instrument will be confined in a relatively small area and permitted to pass therefrom toward the audience when faced by the musician, so that the tones are greatly amplified, thus giving a greater scope to said tones so that they may be heard by the audience at a great distance from the musician.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for detachably securing the tone amplifier to the musical instrument, said means preferably frictionally engaging the musical instrument.

With these ends in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then specifically designated by the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains may understand how to make and use the same, I will describe its construction in detail, referring by numeral to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1, is a face view of. a stringed musical instrument showing my invention attached thereto.

Fig. 2, is an enlarged cross section thereof.

Fig. 3, is a still greater enlarged segmental sectional view thereof.

Fig. 4, is an enlarged plan view of the banjo attachment looking into the interior thereof.

Fig. 5, is a similar view of the bottom or outside face view thereof; and

Fig. 6 is a segmental view of Fig. 4, showing one of the disks removed and illustrating the manner in which the joints of the different segments overlap.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 12, 1919.

Serial No. 74,122.

In carrying out my invention as here embodied 2 represents the banjo attachment which is constructed in the form of a box open at the front and having a swelled back so that it may be placed upon the body of the musical instrument with the back and side walls spaced therefrom, thereby acting as a sounding board.

The banjo attachment consists of a concavo-conveX back 3 and a flange 4, said flange having an opening 5 therein for the reception of the neck of the instrument 6.

In order that the banjo attachment may be detachably secured to the musical instrument, I provide a number of attaching members 7 disposed at different points around the interior of the attachment and these are preferably wooden blocks formed to produce seats 8. The outer edges of these are covered with some suitable material 9 such as felt, so that when the instrument is placed in the attachment the lower edge of the body will rest upon the seats and the material 9 will frictionally engage the side walls thereof to hold the attachment upon the musical instrument under ordinary circumstances.

In. practice the banjo attachment is placed upon the back of the musical instrument body so that the back 3 of said attachment is disposed across the back of the instrument body with the flange 4 of the attachment lying parallel to the side walls of the musical instrument body, all of the walls of the attachment being spaced from the musical instrument by the attaching means 7 and the resilient material carried by said attaching means frictionally engaging the side walls of the musical instrument to detachably secure the attachment to the musical instrument.

It is to be understood that when the attachment is placed upon the musical instrument the neck of said instrument rests in the opening 5 in the flange 4. 1

The back 3 is made of two layers the outer layer thereof consisting of a plurality of segments 10 which if found desirable may be separated by purfling inlays 11 and a relatively small disk of purfling inlay 12 may take the place of the joints of said seg ments as plainly shown in Fig. 5. On thls outer layer is placed an inner layer, also formed of a plurality of segments 13, the inner ends of which are cut in the arc of a circle so that when the segments are placed together a circular opening is formed, in which a relatively large disk let is placed as plainly shown in Fig. 4:. The joints of the segments of one layer are in staggered relation to the joints of the segments of the other layer or overlap as plainly shown in Fig. 6 and the disk 1% being larger than the purfling disk 12 the joints of said disks are made to overlap.

The flange is formed of two concentric bands 15 and 16 fastened together in any suitable manner and these are attached to the back 3 and braced or strengthened by the band 17 on the interior of the attachment at the joint between the back and tachment is made from the kind of wood generally used in the manufacture of violins and known in the trade as violin wood.

Of course I do not wish to be limited to the exact details of construction as herein shown, as these may be varied within the limits of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus fully describedmy invention, what I claim as new and useful, is

1. A banjo attachment comprising a back, a flange projecting therefrom and having an opening therein and means carried by the interior of the attachment for frietionally attaching the same to a musical instrument.

2. A banjo attachment comprising a back,-

a flange projecting therefrom and having an opening therein, a plurality of attaching means secured to the interior of that attachment each of said means having a seat and pliable material carried by each of said means for frictio'nally engaging a musical instrument, the edge of said musical instrument adapted to rest upon the seats.

3. A banjo attachment comprising a back consisting of an outer layer formed from a plurality of segments and having a relat-ively small disk inlaid at the oints of said segments an inner layer formed from a plurality of segments, the joints of said segments situated in staggered relation to the joints of the segments formed in the outer layer, a relatively large disk inlaid at the joints of the segments of the inner layer, a flange formed from two concentric strips joined together from the back, said flange having an opening therein, attaching means mounted on the interior of the attachment and pliable material covering a portion of said attaching means for frictionally engaging a musical instrument to attach the amplifier to said musical instrument.

at. A banjo attachment comprising a back, a flange projecting therefrom, said flange having an opening therein, a plurality of attaching members secured to the inner face of said back andflange; each of said attaching members being provided with a seat and a covering of felt secured to each of said attaching members and" adapted to snu l and frictionall en 'a e a musical instrument for detachably securing the attacl'iment to said musical instrument.

5. In a device of the character stated, a housing comprising a back, a flange projecting therefrom, said housing-adapted to partially surround a musical instrument, attaching members carried by said housing for spacing the same from the musical instrument and strips of felt covering the outer faces of said members adapted to frietmnally'engage the musical instrument for detaehably securing the device to said instrument.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto aliiXed my signature.

HARRY W. VVEYMANN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

